At times sounding reminiscent of Bebel Gilberto and in other moments striking a chord of fanciful and free Brazilian singer Cibelle has attracted a strong following in many European countries including Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Italy, France, England and more recently Russia. On February 2nd the talented singer/songwriter will be appearing in New York City at Carnegie Hall.
“I like to be able to walk inside sound and touch this or that element,” says Brazilian singer Cibelle from her home in London England. “I have this song, then this world starts growing inside of my head and I start painting that song out. I embrace that poem with sounds that let’s say helps this poem reach where it has to go,” she says. Her multi layered songs are as much a product of the many facets of her personality as they are of continuous mixing of the tracks until she arrives at a magical formula.
As you talk to Cibelle it doesn’t take long to recognize her playful and at time almost childlike approach to both life and music. Those fanciful notions and frolicsome nature come to the forefront in “London, London” her music video shot a few years ago with Devendra Banhart. The video also provides insight into Cibelle’s passion for juxtaposing images and ideas. Banhart is dressed in period clothing including a cravat and top hat while Cibelle appears in a Victorian age dress, petticoat and carrying a parasol. The two of them ride in a carriage through the streets of London and at one point roll their eyes heavenward as they sing, “looking for flying saucers in the sky.” At another juncture the two can be seen dancing on the roof of a skyscraper. The music for “London, London” was originally penned by Caetano Veloso a folk hero in Brazil and someone who ironically enough was exiled to London in the early seventies.
Contrasting elements once again are front and center with the rhythmic "Noite de Carnaval" (About A Girl EP) which has a deep bass line, even deeper percussion beats and the ethereal vocals of Cibelle.
The cover of Tom Waits’ “Green Grass” (The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves) provides the listener with romantic escapism. The unaffected vocals provide an innocence that contrasts subtly with the flirtatious lyrics. Green Grass has the fingerprints of Parisian sound engineer Yann Arnaud.
To say that Cibelle’s approach to songwriting is unorthodox would be stating the obvious. She would have been hard pressed to push the envelope any further than she did with the creation of The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves. It is not all that unusual anymore to see more than one producer’s name appear in a CD’s liner notes however it is extraordinary to discover that more than one producer worked on the same track as was the case for the CD The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves. Cibelle pushed the envelope on the project. “I thought I needed to go back to Sao Paulo (Brazil) and do some stuff with Apollo Nove. I was recording some music in London with Mike Lindsay (already). I thought if I could merge Apollo and Mike into one person I would. They compliment each other so well. They have the same strange quirkiness and madness,” she says.
“I took the five tracks that I had started with Mike back to Apollo in Brazil. I said you have about two weeks on your own to think about doing something. I had told Mike that was going to happen,” she says.
The eighteen month project was infused with some songs that originated within jam sessions during her brief stay in Brazil. When it came time to cross the ocean again and return to Lindsay in London she had twenty tracks tucked under her arm. “I said (to Mike) you have two weeks to chop, rework and sample one track to the next. Just let it all hand out and do your thing. Think about you in love and how it would feel,” she says.
It was not until she arrived in Paris to work with Arnaud that the project was finally completed.
